Mad Love
by Haiwee
Summary: 1st FF :o I just love Harley and Mr.J together, so really just me loving them. Might turn more into a story with an actual story arc and what not, but for now it'll just be my own spin off of their origin. Please review and let me know what you think, if I should keep going, etc.
1. Chapter 1

"Hello, Mister Joker. I'm Dr. Harleen Quinzel, and I'll be your psychiatrist for a while. Is there anywhere you'd like to start?"

His ever analytical eyes measured every feature of her face. She waited patiently, awaiting any sign that he was paying attention to her words. Slowly a smile crept onto his face, until his silver teeth glinted in the light, "harlequin." The burst of laughter that followed startled Harleen, but the Joker's head was thrown back in laughter, to her relief.

 _Don't show weakness._ She thought to herself. "Do you mind?"

"Oh no, harlequin darling, go right ahead." He leaded back in his chair, as comfortable as one can look while in a strait jacket. His laughter still echoing through the small room.

"Dr. Quinzel will do just fine, Mister Joker."

"Ah phewy, drop the formalities, darling. How am I supposed to open up to ya when you're bein so formal" leaning across the table now, looking up threw in lashes.

Heart hammering in her chest, the request was so simple, why not comply. "Fine, Harleen, but no more of this darling business, you understand?"

"Darlin', how do you expect to work with the crazies if you're not willin' to be fraternized a bit?" He made a gesture with his head on the word 'crazies' pointing back at the cell block, as if he weren't including himself.

"Mister Joker—"she started.

"Hey now," he interrupted, "Harley dear, the formalities gotta be dropped both ways."

Harleen began taking notes, 'Every time he speaks, his whole self reacts, he's so animated and lively, as if without the motions of his whole body, nothing is really being said'

"Whacha got there, doc?" His eyes flash with false curiosity, "Workin' on a scrap book about lil' old me?"

She refused to look up, staying focused on her writing, 'insistent on referring to me by any other name than my own, has to be in charge?' She jotted down a few more peculiarities about his behavior and looked it over, knowing she wouldn't get far trying to continue their conversation anyways.

She looked up once everything was read over twice, "Mister—" She could feel the protest coming, "J," she watched, waiting for protest to come, but he stayed silent mulling over the new nickname, "Where do you want to be in ten years?"

This question took him by surprise, no 'how are you feeling', 'what motivates you to do less than civil things', 'what was your childhood like', those he had quick witted answers for, preplanned, calculated, multiple different answers all filled with laughs. Where would he be in ten years, surly not rotting away in here. Perhaps the king of Gotham, with a crown and all his subjects bowing down, as if that hadn't already come true.

On the edge of his chair, leading into the table, gaze wandering the ceiling. He ran his tongue along all of his teeth before whispering softly "In ten years, Harley baby, you won't be around" His eyes, lazy yet full of passion landed on hers, "Marvel in the glory that is me while you still can." He exclaimed in his usual way.

Harleen wrote, 'I won't be around in ten years, is that a threat or does he mean out of his life?'

"What do you mean, I won't be around?" She prodded.

"The end is nigh, my darling. Where is it you see yourself in ten years?" He threw back at her.

"What about your tattoos, 'damaged', do you think you are?" She carried on with her questioning, ignoring his own.

Displeased by the question, and lack of an answer to his previous inquiry, he simply asked another, "Do you have any tattoos, my dear doctor?"

"Mister… J, this session is not about me."

"How about this, you answer my questions, I'll think answering yours."

"That's not going to work for me, I'll think about answering your questions if you promise to answer mine."

He thought this over for a moment, "okay okay, one for one. I ask you, you ask me. Deal?"

She stood, "Okay great, remember that for next time, because today's session is over." She buzzed the guards in.

"Well that's just absurd, we just started getting somewhere. And to think I was going to tell you all about my angsts and troubles, well you can just forget about that."

She gathered her things while the guards handled him, "I'll see you tomorrow, mister… Joker" She glanced towards the orderlies wondering if they had overheard the conversation.

Ever so perceptive, the Joker picked up on this and shot back, "I'll see you in my dream, my dearest." Looking over his shoulder, blowing a kiss as they pulled him from the room.

Harleen looked down, checking if she had everything in an attempt to hide her blush. The daunting laughter of the Joker was audible as they dragged him down the hall. A half hour surly wasn't enough time for them to really get anywhere, ever if they met every day. She was sure this wouldn't be the last time he wasted time on nonsense.

That night she prepared more Joker specific questions, trying to steer clear of the typical psychologist jargon he's probably heard over and over.


	2. Chapter 2

"Good day, Harley dear, you're late for supper." The Joker greets Harleen as she enters the room, "how was work?"

"Work just started" staring at him skeptically

"Oh my, when did I wake up? Maybe I haven't." He looked around perplexed.

"Joker?" Less a question and more a request to join the sane.

"We were just on our honeymoon in Paris. Don't you remember, darling?" His eyes filled with false hurt. "Oh, kiss me, I'm dreaming." He turns his head sideways and makes kissy faces.

"You are very much awake and I'd like to get started. I have put in a request to lengthen our sessions, but until that happens, we only have a half hour together. Do you want to waste that time on your childish fantasies or try to make some sort of progress?"

"My my my, aren't we testy today. Maybe we should kiss just to lose some of that sexual tension between us, no?" His eyebrows raised in a silent continuation of the question.

"There will be no such action taking place here, ever. Do you understand?" Without waiting for a response she continues, "So where were we yesterday, question for question?"

"Tit for tat, I'll show you mine if you show me yours." Seeing the annoyance on her face spurred a fit of laughter.

"I'll start by answering your question from yesterday," she said over his laughter, "Yes, I do have a tattoo"

"Ohh, scandalous little doctor friend. What is it, no, where is it?"

"No, my turn, I answered your question, you answer mine." With a brief pause she continued, "Do you believe you're crazy?"

"Crazy how, toots. Crazy about you, you know I am."

"No, do you believe that you're a madman?"

"Mad? How can I be mad when the world is full of laughter? Fun fact," He leaned in as close as possible, "you can't spell slaughter without laughter." Nothing but seriousness in his eyes.

"You know what I mean, Joker, answer the question or we're through."

"Ah, why you gotta be like that, baby." Calculating the seriousness of her threat. There was a long pause as they sized each other up, "Well, madness, as you know, is like gravity. All it takes is a little push."

Harleen writes this down, thinking for a moment before continuing, "And who pushed you?"

"Hmm, straight forward, I like that in a woman, but you forgot, it's my turn now." He ponders for a long time. Weighing each question against each other, knowingly wasting time. "Why me?" He finally asked.

"Why you?" She asked confused.

"Yeah." He said purposefully overlooking her confusion.

"How do you mean?"

"Well you asked for this case, and I'm wondering why."

"How did you…?" She didn't finish, thinking of the very few ways he could have gotten that information.

"Never mind the hows, we're looking for the letter 'why'." He pushed on.

"Because I think I can help you." She answered as she did when anyone else asked.

"Hmm, that's odd, I see no reason to lie to me. Who am I going to tell, the walls? Surely not, I'm not a lunatic." He stated as a matter-o-fact. "If you're going to lie, I see no reason why I shouldn't."

"No, I…" She never thought she was lying until now. It took a moment to think, drawing each sentence out as she figured them out for herself "I want to help you. I want to know what drives you. Where it all started. How did you turn into… this?" She opened her heart and soon regretted it. This was no way to respond to a patient, no less a madman. Where had her professionalism gone, whisked away so effortlessly with simple questions. "What did you do before?" She asked hesitantly.

"Aht, I do believe I've answered more questions than you have, my dear Harley."

"What are you talking about?"

"There's another!" He perked up, eyes glowing with excitement at his little trick gone right.

"Those were question clarifications, not more questions on my end." She stated, annoyed by his accusations.

He leans in, "you said question for question, and I do believe those were questions. Whether for clarification or not, you still owe me answers."

"Fine, new rule, questions have to be of equal depth." She demanded.

"Darling, you can't change the rules once the game is already started, it's in the rules."

"How do I know you didn't just make that up?" Her voice laced with annoyance still.

"Games are my job, sweetheart. If I didn't have the rules down by now, how could I be any good at it? I don't go around telling you how to do your job."

"Well you sure don't make it any easier." Looking him up and down for emphasis.

Before the Joker could get any words out the door slammed open, the guard entered ready to fight.

"The session ended five minutes ago. Is everything alright, Ms. Quinzel?"

"It's doctor." She corrected sharply, standing from her chair. She gathered her things quickly and exited the room without another word from anyone.

"It's Mrs. actually, we just got married." He falsely corrected leaning over, head tilted sideways with a wide smile and beaming eyes.

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AUTHORS NOTE: thank you to everyone that has reviewed so far, I appreciate it. I just wanted to say that I'm really excited about where this is going, I have a few things written out for future chapters, I just need to work on getting there. This is not the end! Things are a bit slow to start, but I'm hoping to have longer chapters as time goes on, but that might mean more time between updates. Let me know what you'd prefer; longer chapters or more frequent updates?


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